All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go……
This is it. It has been nearly a year since I committed to traveling to Estonia for an Adult Bible Camp. The time has come to check in for my flight. My bags are packed, my testimony written, and my lesson planned.
Some of my preparations for this adventure have involved letting go of Root Seller Sue and my farmer market business. That was made easier with this unusual summer weather.
It’s not a good year for tomatoes or cucumbers, but a grand year for dill, potatoes, carrots, and beets. One variety of cabbage, at least 20 heads, cracked under the pressure of the fluctuating temperature and abundant rainfall.
The thunderstorms were great fun. The heat and smoke were prohibitive to me being outdoors for any length of time. Vending in a parking lot would have been difficult. Whether cancer or aging, my upper body strength has diminished over the past few years.
I leave behind my garden in the care of J.C. (both of them). I have enjoyed the harvest to date and sharing my excesses with family and the ND Hunger Free Garden Project. It was my proposal around 2009, during my short tenure at the ND Department of Ag, that birthed that project. Feeding people has always been a passion of mine.
Throughout this rather “lazy” market season, my focus has been shifting. A cancer diagnosis changes everything and changes nothing at the same time. Each of our lives must end at some time. Cancer pushes the possibility of sooner than later to the front of your mind and changes your thinking about what is really important in life.
That is today. I have today to live to the fullest. To be the best person I can be. To give back. To see all people as children of God and treat them accordingly.
A thought came to mind when I focused on today’s date. It has been a year and a half since my Gamma Knife surgery, removing five tumors from my brain. It has been two and a half years since the tumors in my lungs were radiated to stability. How is it possible I am still here?
By the grace of God and your prayers, I have new doors opening and old ones slamming shut. Tears of gratitude and love flood my eyes in the quiet hours of each morning. I know what I would like to do in the coming days and hopefully years, but at the moment, it’s not up to me.
I must stand on the promise that God is preparing my future. My assigned lesson is rooted in Matthew 6:25-34. Worry.
Since I presented my worry lesson to the rest of the team, I have had to overcome my worries and live out my message while standing on the promises of God. It’s not always easy. So I did what Sue does — make something.
This post’s photograph shows the “worry worms” I crocheted to carry over the pond and leave behind a wee bit of myself with the people we meet at the Bible camp.
The poem reads:
I am a little WORRY WORM.
If you tell me all you fear, I’ll say a little prayer for you ‘cause GOD is always near.
And, even if you can’t see him, trust that He does CARE.
As my beloved friend Karen, who is watching from heaven, said many times, “Why pray when you can worry?”
Yet more adventures await when I return in a couple of weeks. Your prayers for our safe journey will be felt across the ocean. I will share my stories and photos upon my return to my beloved North Dakota.
INDYchildrendotme 
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